I came across this site a while back searching for inspiration from Maori elements. Artists of these pieces, Kerry Thompson and Todd Couper, have a kind of flow that's way out of my league but when it comes to the kind of ideas that whisp in and out of my own imagination the images keep beckoning towards their arena. I know I love pieces such as these and will persist in driving my ideas on this path. Are these pieces things that CTc'ers would consider "tiki"? As one who posts on here infrequently, I am still learning what kind of artwork would not only be accepted here but embraced.

Check out the prices on them too at the website: www.spiritwrestler.com. It would be cool to have some of that stuff displayed at my house, but I would really have a hard time justifying that amount of cool based on my economic situation.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep carving away. There's a lot of work to be done for me to find my own groove.

Maori art has always been incredibly inspiring to me...there is nothing like it anywhere. It was seen in many, many tiki bars of old. The Kon Tiki and the Omni Hut, still open in Smyrna, Tennessee come to mind first..

To ME this is Awesome stuff. Tiki? Defenitely YES in my book. I have works by this artist downloaded and these and others from NZ like him are Utterly inspiring pieces. The perfect form and perfect, crisp detail, is very difficult to achieve and should be revered by anyone who is even just Thinking of creating any works of this type. Manokoa this tells me a bit about what makes you tick and what type of art turns you on.
Thanks for posting these treasures.
Here are more , some from the same gallery
This look familiar?

Ben - I have seen things in the background of some of your pictures that tell me you're using some of the same source material I find. Thanks for sharing. Do you keep all those online?

PCT - Sorry bout the timing of it all. I know how it is to want to scrap part of a project because it does not bode well. Congrats on the epiphany. Many things catch your eye but few catch your heart. Follow those.

Mano, Benz... Mahalo! for bringing these here! Absolutely gorgeous work. I'm not only impressed with the design but the sheer mastery of the craft and materials that show through in all of the pieces. *Fingers crossing* for PCT, I'm sendin' ya the "good vibes".

hmmm... with all of the great positive/negative space and detail in Maori style I'm thinking it could translate extremely well as a stencil, now I'm really challenged.
_________________pronounced: oh-tee khe-nee kho

On 2005-11-18 09:02, otikiniko wrote:Enlighten me, would this work be considered "Neo-Traditional Maori"?

I wish I could but the artists themselves would probably have different words for it. I lose energy trying to classify it so I end up trying to focus into the culture and into that which motivates one to create. The origins of the moko and the use of the "koru" motif fascinate me.

It's interesting that you are working on a stencil as I am working on something similar but the end result is a relief made of gatorboard. I'll post pics as things progress.

Maori art is as beautiful and inspiring today as it was hundreds of years ago...there is a great book, usually available on Amazon if you keep looking, called "Decorative Arts Of The New Zealand Maori", by T. Barrow, which has chapter after great chapter on their art forms; carving, rafter painting (Ben, I had to print that Meeting House photo for my source book...powerfully beautiful..), panel weaving, musical instruments, jewelry and adornments, and weaponry. It's a fairly small book but jam packed. There is little in any area they produced, from the smallest fish hook to an entire "Pa" fort that wasn't a work of art. Here are a few Maori inspired pieces carved by members here...Gecko, Ben, and me and that barely scratches the surface... there are many more NZ pieces around here.